Nowadays watchmen attend some kind of training, have fancy
uniforms and get paid through a bank! After all they are no longer watchmen but
security guards or ‘solders’, men and women alike. You ought to even have
attained some level of education and has the qualms to introduce yourself as
having a career in a big security company headquartered in Nairobi. Back in the
day especially in upcountry only schools and coffee factories were guarded, in
most cases only at night. The work
wasn’t liked could be because one was only armed with a club, a bow and arrows
and a machete against better armed thugs , no uniforms or had had handouts
instead of salaries in some godforsaken
institution that never valued him enough
to build a shack to shield himself during the rains. That such a job never
attracted young men or women of any ages isn’t a wonder. The characters were
men in their fifties, sixties and above, mostly as a side hustle and not a full
time job.
In Meru School were had four or so watchmen, they worked in
shifts of two at night and two during the day. The work in the day shift entailed
checking vehicles, attending to visitors and more importantly checking in or
out students who were either suspended, expelled, sent away for school fees or
out to do some shopping or ‘shopping’. ‘Shopping’ meant just being out and
about in town checking out the ladies (more of ogling than checking out) at
Uchumi Supermarket entryway, going to Wind View pub to imbibe some third
generation concoctions or burning a music Compact Disk. The movie shops were
making such kill then, imagine music CDs were burning at between Ksh 150 and
200 and movies were more expensive my buddy Kimto bought the Lord of the Rings
at Ksh 350. It was in 2005 therefore that like Ksh 1,500 in 2018, damn
expensive! There were guys who were out every weekend doing that shit but I
never mastered the guts to seek that permit, I was a mischievous but shy boy.
Enough! Back to Nyamwezi, he was among the four watchmen I
can at least recall by name in Meru School. In the company of Ngatia, Boss and the
other guy who had sideburns, Nyamwezi stands out because of his character a
mean cold-hearted son of a bitch! You see the watchman on duty had the
responsibility of opening and closing all the eight dormitories as well as
ensuring nobody was hiding in the dorms before he closes them or anywhere else
in building during assemblies, preps, class time or the stupid weekend
challenge. I despised morning assemblies and weekend challenges so I would hide
in my dormitory Njuuri Ncheeke alias Barracks before it is closed or in the
vast ceiling of the Multipurpose Hall. The lanky Nyamwezi had an eye for
details and he caught me almost every time in hid in the dorm and had had
somebody spread my bed while lied in it as a disguise. He was not fooled by
that time old trick, the best bed for it was a spring’s one but it would also
sag and Nyamwezi’s eagle eye would always spot it. Once caught Nyamwezi was so
uncompromising, no amount of pleas, bribes or threats would stop him from
dragging you to the ‘Office’. Save for
the papers and not knowing anyone that watchman could probably have made the
best Anti-corruption Commission chair Kenya has ever had.
Now my crew of mischievous boys had grown tired of having
the best of six regularly courtesy of Nyamwezi. We had to teach him a lesson.
We were big boys now in form three and there was no way in hell a mere watchman
could make our lives more miserable than the Snakes (prefects and captains) and
Mr. Ithinji the deputy principal were already. So sometime around the June of 2007 a bunch of
very nutty boys met at the cubicle of the Sports prefect Cos Kavinda at 9:45 pm
to plot how to bell this cat. We gathered Intel about the rounds he makes at
night, to where and at what time. It was discovered that Nyamwezi ate his
supper at 2100 hrs. And spend an hour dozing off near a fire. Beating him up
was extreme. The following day in the evening at around ten minutes to ten the
considered criminal gang of seven or so boys walked out of evening preps for
varies reasons but with a single mission Nyamwezi! We fetched water in ten
metallic buckets, three in soil and ballast in two and ended towards the
kitchen area where the enemy would be warming himself by the fireplace in the
kitchen annex. The intel was reliable and the operation a go. Unceremoniously
Nyamwezi was hit by a cocktail of bucketful after bucketful of cold water, soil
and ballast, for a minutes or two the poor broke tasted the wrath testosterone
raging teenagers. Before our victim could gather his composure we ditched the
buckets and run toward the classes, fortunately the end of preps bell rang at
2200 Hrs so we joined the crowd ending to sleep. In the morning I was very
attentive in the assembly since I knew we couldn’t get away with crime. We had
assaulted a watchman who was famed for noting visogos (what the heck is the English for that part of the head anyway?) not facial appearances
only.
That the case was not mentioned
was a surprised and we thanked our lucky stars for it, but I guessed it was
because Nyamwezi had too many enemies and the timing was ingenious, many boys
would end out minutes to ten so that by the time the bell ran they were at
their dorms’ doors. However he caught a
nasty cold and had to take a week’s leave. It happened that the snitch suffered
from Diabetes and later that year dead while at home. Rumours spread like Ebola
virus that attack by the gang was the real cause of his passing on. It became
one of those indisputable legends and myths in a schools in spite of facts
proving them contrary. That dude could have died anyway attacked or not. In the
words and voice of William Ruto let me state without fear of contradiction the
gang had nothing to do with this death, Nyamwezi paid the wages of his
uncompromising snitch habit I the ambush and mother nature is trying to kill us
every damn day till we die.
I know there are folks especially in the #Classof08
who hold the shit true. Anyone who believes the legend that we anyway
accelerated the demise of Nyamwezi then he ought to be one of the many who
believes the far from true miracles Mrs. Ntoiti the C.U patron was fond of telling
on Monday mornings. “Boys on Friday I prayed to the lord and said do not let
the disco near my home which is spoiling young people go on. And there was a
black out all weekend long. My lord is faithful and answers players, so don’t
joke when I say the C.U music system is cleansed by the blood of Jesus and
can’t play dirty songs. You try it!”
